PASSION PIT: LIVE AT TERMINAL 5
On Friday Night, The Joy Formidable, Passion Pit and the Rural Alberta Advatage came to New York’s Terminal 5 and Discosalt friend Backseatsandbar was there to fill you in on what you missed. The show was the first of several for each of the bands, with Passion Pit playing three consecutive sold out shows at Terminal 5. Selling out three nights at one of the larger capacity venues, it’s only a matter of time before Passion Pit is playing the stadiums of New York. Similarly, The Joy Formidable started their first of four shows in New York, performing again with Passion Pit the following night and headlining Union Hall tonight and Pianos tomorrow. The Rural Alberta Advantage performed their next two shows with an early and late set at Mercury Lounge.
The night started with The Joy Formidable, who got started a little earlier than was announced. Positioned by the stage by 8:45 they were already more than three songs in, meaning that I unfortunately missed their opening track, The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade. You might remember that track from when I listed it as among the Greatest opening tracks of all time. I have been shocked by the fact that the Joy Formidable have stayed off the radar of the blogs for so long as they’ve got everything the kids want…incredible songs, danceworthy synth beats and a cute lead singer. It seems many of those in attendance were shocked as well, with their heads and feet unable to stop moving and later I noticed, buying their debut album, “A Balloon Called Moaning”. I knew the band was Welsh and I knew their music, but little else. As it turns out, tonight’s show was first show of 2010, their first show in New York, and what’s more, their first US appearance. It’s rare for an opening band to really move a crowd, but the response from those in attendance couldn’t be denied…2010 is going to be a big year for Joy Formidable. Check out a great interview our friends over at We Listen For You did with lead vocalist, Ritzy Bryan.
Up next was the Rural Alberta Advantage. While a strong set, their sound didn’t seem to mesh with the Passion Pit sound as well and as a result the energetic environment created by the Joy Formidable seemed to descend into a lot of chatter by the time Passion Pit took the stage. Nevertheless, it has given me reason to pause and take another look at RAA.
Then Passion Pit took the stage. Having met all of these guys through a mutual friend when I saw them back in June, their rockstar status is particularly interesting. During that show, they sat with us in the bar drinking until only a few minutes before they went on, expressing their own awe of their successes. Nevertheless, on that evening they took to the stage and destroyed the crowd. Yet by comparison, Friday night’s show was of a band of true rockstars. Michael delegated more of the keys to his bandmates and maintained the presence of a truly great frontman, dominating the stage in a way that I’ve seen very few performers (Trent Reznor maybe?) handle as well. With LED screens lighting the performance from behind, a sea of bodies crashing into one another in front and the energy of the band on stage, it was an ultimate sensory overload which peaked for the first time with Little Secrets when the crowd went from dancing to thrashing and again with Sleepyhead where they slayed the crowd for the final time that night. The greatest surprise of the night though was their cover of the Cranberries’ “Dreams” which worked perfectly with the Passion Pit sound (Michael was able to hit all the shockingly difficult notes) and had the whole crowd ballading along with the band.
Setlist and photos
Passion Pit Setlist:
I’ve Got Your Number
Make Lights
Better Things
The Reeling
Moth’s Wings
Swimming in the Flood
To Kingdom Come
Let Your Love Grow Tall
Folds in your Hands
Smile Upon Me
Seaweed Song
Little Secrets
Encore:
Eyes as Candles
Dreams (Cranberries cover)
Sleepyhead
Joy Formidable
Passion Pit
Rural Alberta Advantage
all photos courtesy of Backseatsandbar. Thanks Cory!
ELIZABETH & THE CATAPULT: LIVE AT THE RUMBA CAFE
Discosalt’s midwest envoy Casey Bowers fills you in on the hype you missed last weekend:
Perfectly Out Of Place by Casey Bowers
Elizabeth & The Catapult: Live at The Rumba Cafe: October 13, 2009
There are paradoxes in music history that become apparent to the greater population long after the historical events transpire and instantly clear to those uniquely tuned-in.
In fact, often after an encounter, these individuals will feel an insatiable need to share their revelation with friends and coworkers and express their profound amazement of the experience by relaying some form of this common message: “You should have been there.” Pseudo-science and pop psychology aside, Monday night, October 13, 2009 (Columbus Day) at The Rumba Cafe was a transfixing and trans-formative experience thanks to Brooklyn-based Indie Pop trio, Elizabeth & The Catapult. Oh, and yeah – You should have been there.
E & The C, as they’re sometimes affectionately abbreviated, seem both perfect for 2009 and wildly out of place in time.Playing a tight and smooth schizophrenic mix of folk, lounge, AM gold, country and yes, pop, the indie trio put on one hell of a show. Professional musicians all, whether playing tight or loose, the band is a well-oiled music machine. Channeling everyone from Ella, Joni, Grace Slick and Aimee Mann, vocalist Elizabeth Ziman has a sweet and arresting voice full of equal parts POW!er and splendor and the eclectic indie-urbanite folkie chords of Peter Lalish’s guitar quizzically compliment every soft sweeping ballad and foot-stomping rocker in equal measure. As do Molad’s laid back but passionate drumming.
All smiles on the gleeful kidult romps (Race You, Taller Children, Perfectly Perfect) and sadly beautiful on the soft but weighty heartache ballads (Apathy, Golden Ink, Just In Time), Ziman still appeared to lose herself in song and the crowd was right along with her. Case in point – “Golden Ink.” Thanking J Liu’s restaurant owner for “making [the band] fat and happy,” the band fulfilled the restaurateur’s’ request and played a song which, as Ziman candidly pointed out, is normally reserved for “when [she’s] either really sad or really drunk.” In witnessing the toll the song takes on E, it’s understood why.
Through the hour-long plus set, the New York natives effortlessly breezed through most of their catalog and even treated the audience to new material like the slight rocker, “Mr. Hypochondriac,” a quirky song about the King of Quirk, Woody Allen. There were few missteps, only gorgeous melodies, catchy choruses and joyful noises – but there were standouts.
The Catapult are wonderfully enchanting on the lighter and brighter side of Taller Children, but they reach a profound level of exciting when they speed things up or get a little darker. “Hit The Wall,” is one such example and live, it’s a wall-shaking rocker and a sinister little big song that sees the band alley walk with E as she cuts through her blues. More proof is their take on Leonord Cohen’s “Everybody Knows” which is much more epic than but just as menacing as the original. You can hear Cohen’s pain through Ziman more than through Cohen himself and with Lalish + Molad’s haunting textures, it’s almost palpable.
As for the local response, if the audience wasn’t full of fans at the start of the show, by the end, all were converted.Acting genuinely surprised by the encore request, which only added to their charm, the trio returned with the feathery, lilting “Right Next To You” and before they brought up the house lights, they brought down the house with a rousing rendition of The Beatles’ “I’m So Tired.” Which, after a powerhouse performance like that one, I’m sure they were.
-CB
GIRL TALK: LIVE AT THE BROOKLYN WATERFRONT
Yesterday 8/23 was by far the most hyped JellyNYC Pool Party on the Williamsburg waterfront of the year, most likely the biggest turnout and probably the most entertaining one this summer. Hell, Senator Chuck Schumer was even out on the green flying his freak flag. Fo’ reals. The man playing with the lap top is none other than Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk, effortlessly producing dozens of hip-hop, pop and rock mashup-style remixes, using dozens of unauthorized samples from different songs to create new songs. The New York Times Magazine has called his music “a lawsuit waiting to happen”. But, if anything, the show proved he is a one man party waiting to happen and he can draw a huge crowd. By 2pm there was already an entry line 4 blocks long and by the time he hit the stage, people were climbing fences to get in. When the crowd was welcomed on stage to dance, they broke it. First time I’ve seen a stage break while watching a DJ. Amazing. Music went down and everyone took a breather before the show was up and running again in full force. Completely rowdy. The crowd was so tight, hot and bouncy..wait what were we talking about again? Oh yeah the show…The show was a steamy mess and when it started raining mid show, it was a welcome relief. Girl Talk himself was on point and while the novelty is really just one bearded dude in front of his computer playing songs that you’ve heard before, the mashes create totally original songs that are both familiar and foreign at the same time sometimes even taking on new meanings…and of course its all danceable. Big ups to the party-starter.
Thanks toBrooklyn Vegan and Driven By Boredom for the pics. Click on the links to check out more pics from the show.
PHOENIX: LIVE AT MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG
Phoenix came to New York’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on Thursday, June 18th and Backseatsandbar was there to fill you in on what you missed.
The French boys who found a certain applaudable level of success with their first three album have broken away with Wolfgang Amadeus. It’s with good reason. The fourth album by Phoenix is easily one of the best synthpop dance rock albums in the last few years. Few albums provide the perfect blend of dance tunes that Phoenix gives us with tracks like Lisztomania, 1901, Rome, Girlfriend & more or less the rest of the album.
While Phoenix received a lot of attention after “Too Young” appeared on Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” (whom Thomas Mars now has a child with), however it seems that Saturday Night Live provided the best introduction to American audiences as we got to watch the guys perform live. Just as it was on that night, the performance at Music Hall of Williamsburg was magical. Debates have been raging about whether they are too liberal with their use of backing tracks sampling machines, but in the end, every person on stage proves their own talent and if they want to make use of a little “enhancement” to create a perfect performance then all the better for us.
And it was just that. While the set consisted predominately of tracks from Wolfgang Amadeus, it ventured into United, It’s Never Been Like That and Alphabetical, but only 1-2 songs each. Thomas’ energy on stage was infectious, from playing baseball with his mic and mic stand to later joining the crowd for the final moments of 1901, people were dancing and sweating everywhere. But for a group of highly obnoxious kids standing in the front/center who tried their best to ruin the show for as many people as possible (one guy kept jumping into me and others then yelling to stop hitting him), the crowd was mostly amicable and just trying to have the time of their lives while dancing to perfectly crafted dance pop.
Highlight of the show was the encore of “1901” that murdered the crowd. It’s a bright, upbeat, and pulsing pop gem off their latest LP “Wolfgang amadeus Phoenix” that mixes some keyboard tones and french electrohouse with a catchy hook. Check out the video above.
CLUES: LIVE AT SANTOS PARTY HOUSE
Clues have penned the perfect band name. The whole band has managed to remain seemingly shrouded in mystery, a mystery that slowly seems to only unravel through their live performances. Who are Clues? What do they sound like? Why all the hype?
Clues came to New York’s Santos Party House last Wednesday.Having been both a fan of the Unicorns and Arcade Fire, Clues makes for an intriguing supergroup. Nevertheless, supergroups tend to fall flat in my opinion and whether it is egos getting in the way or trying to meld the sounds of the bands from whence the members came, it rarely appeals to me. For that reason, I was slow to pick up the Clues debut. However, once I finally did, I’ve hardly put it down. Having expected quirky Unicorns-esque lyrics over heaver chords, I was shocked to find one of the truly greatest rock albums I’ve come across in a very long time. Zach over at We Listen for You gave the album a perfect 10.0 score, and offered quite insightful analysis of the thematical elements of the album. Perhaps most interestingly was in pointing out the most beautiful and intriguing line from Haarp…“Will I be able to feel the difference…when you turn me on and off?”, to which they suggest the band views themselves as detached and any sort of “fame” to be fleeting.
I recall my feelings after having seen Arcade Fire (and the comparison isn’t merely because of Reed’s former time with the band). Having listened to Arcade Fire, I didn’t know what to expect but in seeing them I left saying quite simply that that was what a rock band should sound like. That is exactly how I felt leaving the Clues show. These guys played with an intensity and passion and brilliance that few bands can pull off. As noted above, the lyrics that pour out of this album have a timeless quality to them and ask very deep questions…something far too few bands are doing these days. At the same time, each member of the band was an instrumentalist and played them all with shockingly incredible skill. Additionally, I feel as though the band were doing some pretty amazing things, particularly with Reed on drums, but the utter darkness of the stage prevented me from seeing much of anything happening on stage (despite being in the first row). I would have really enjoyed seeing the band as they performed.
The set started off with an interesting tribal sounding intro and included most all of the album, including Haarp, You Have My Eyes Now, Cave Mouth, Crows, Remember Severed Head, and closing the set with the ecore Let’s Get Strong.
Starting off the night were the very talented Bridges and Powerlines. I had come across their debut some time ago and instantly enjoyed what they were doing. Synthy almost twee beats with often fairly minimal vocals and frequent harmonization, Bridges and Powerlines leave everyone in the crowd in a better mood than they’d been an hour earlier. Their track Uncalibrated (link)is one of the more lyric heavy tracks and shows a kind of depth that makes them appropriate to play with Clues, claiming “I could make it cold inside just by being here” and I imagine the fight that would ensue. I really enjoyed their performance and highly encourage that you check them out. Start with the track above and go deeper from there.
Drink up Buttercup was the disappointment for me of the night. For a band I’d heard so highly of, I was sad to see that the gimmick outshined the talent. Any regular reader knows that performance and stage presence is critical to my concert experience and I love bands that add something to change our idea of what a concert should be. First we’ll start with the positive…their animation made for a photographer’s dream (which is why they grace the front photo and the headliner’s flash photos take a backseat). Now for the negative….the problem was that singer James Harvey and Mike Cammarata seemed to be the only two trying to focus on playing their instruments while the other two would occasionally hit notes between dancing on stage or hitting things. We noticed garbage cans before the show and figured they would be a part of the act as they looked like they’d taken an unnatural beating. I was reminded of Stomp, except that in Stomp other surfaces were struck to create an interesting sound whereas here it seems it has more to do with making them look cool (it doesn’t). I rarely find myself so annoyed with a band, but Drink up Buttercup can proudly claim to have been so inane and pointless as to have provoked my fury and frustration. Also, it could have been that Ben Mazzochetti reminded me a little too much of Andy Sanberg who in turn makes me think about Joanna Newsom and thinking about Joanna Newsom while watching Drink up Buttercup pretend to be a band could cause loss of hearing, vision and lead to insanity. James and Mike need to go their own ways.
For more photos from the show and to read this review as well as others check out our good friends at BACKSEATSANDBAR
THE LOOM: LIVE AT CRASH MANSION
I know what you are thinking: The Loom? I though you were going to see Emanuel and the Fear. A more dedicated, organized and aggressive girl would have seen Emanuel. I apparently lack any of those characteristics…I got really caught up in the beautiful weather, and then really, really caught up in traffic. By the time I got to Crash Mansion I was in a mood, to say the least…and have I mentioned how I feel about Crash Mansion? Let me reiterate: not good. I get it, its a small venue that sort of clean, has a good sound system, and isn’t full of pretentious hipsters. I guess that’s nice, except that I like all of those things about the other equal sized venues. Crash Mansion is an attempt to bring a little tiny dab of indie culture to people who absolutely couldn’t find it on their own. The kind of people who think The Fray are indie. So needless to say, I don’t like the venue. However, I was on an open tab, and this brightened up my mood considerably, allowing me to get to business with The Loom.
So the first song they played was AMAZING. It involved two drummers sharing one drum set, and the lead singer was playing a ukulele. He had sort of a gravelly, speaky way of singing. I think it may have been “Song for the Winter Sun” which is on their myspace page. I had HIGH hopes for them, as I couldn’t really relate them to another band too closely, and they had their own sound. Very percussive, and very strong. Unfortunately, that was sort of the end of my awe. The rest of their songs were all significantly more main stream sounding: catchy, beatuiful and soulful. There is a heavy bluegrass influence, but also a lot of incontinuity. They are very clearly talented musicians, but they lack direction and cohesion. I would put “True Believers All” with “Song for the Winter Sun” together on an album, and “Of Vegas and Vanity” with “Patience for Books”. This is not to say that the two sets of songs aren’t strong and worth a good listen, because they are, but unfortunately I don’t think they are attracting the same crowds. I genuinely felt like The Loom has a lot going for them, but they need to decide where they are taking it. I hope they take the path with all of those brambles, without the ease of the bluegrass carrying them through. I feel guilty being so judgey and harsh, since this isn’t a band thats just trying to be cool or weird, they seem pretty genuinely like s group of people who derive joy from music. I would absolutely go see them again in a year. I want to know what they are doing, because I do believe that they have a lot of potential, and that they will follow through. They do have a lot of gigs scheduled in the New York area, so hopefully we will be seeing more of them in the better venue circuit (i.e Union Hall, Union Pool, Mercury Lounge). I actually wish these guys a lot of success, and hope that they prove me wrong, by becoming one of the break out acts of 2009.
Listen to them, tell me what you think.
<3 The Elephant
SIGUR ROS: LIVE AT MOMA
On Tuesday evening, myself and several friends joined the lucky swarm of hipsters invading the Museum of Modern art on 53rd st. I’m going to come right out and say it: MoMA isn’t an ideal setting for a concert, as there was no stage, although there was free beer. The show was unusually long (maybe two hours?) but I had no sense of the length until I got outside and it was past 11. The concert was in conjunction with the exhibition Take your time: Olafur Eliasson, an exhibition which featured works of this Icelandic contemporary artist. Sigur Ros and Olafur Eliasson are an interesting parallel to draw in the art/music consortium. Sigur Ros’ music creatures textures and landscapes primarily using instrumentation and rhythm, forcing the listeners to draw conclusions without verbal cues. Eliasson similarly creates environments and space using lights, spacial relations and mirrors. His compositions don’t contain any symbolic or concrete imagery that the viewer can identify as scenery, rather he alters one’s inner sense of space creating a fantasy environment of space and time.
One thing that really set this apart from a regular show (although having no history with SR, I can’t compare to their usual sets) was an absolutely exceptional light show. I have virtually no idea how lighting design works, but I was very impressed. Without theatrical lighting, SR can create create suspense and longing, with the visual cues, it was an all encompassing experience. The lighting was primarily composed of several lantern like orbs that were behind a glass wall in an exterior courtyard. The orbs were a soft, warm light at their “home state” and as the mood of the music called for, the quality of the light would change. Ranging from a very yellow soft tone to an industrial, harsh blue. There were also gels that looked like moonlight through a summer forest, creating moving shadows that imitating the rustling leaves. They were absolutely beautiful. At one point, they employed a green back light that brought the whole courtyard to an emerald glow.
If I had a better position at the front, near the stairs, I would have had the pleasure of watching the marching band approach, in full white uniforms. There were four of them, that comprised the horn section and they entered with such theatrical grace, the whole audience was completely overtaken with thrill. It was a nice, ironic touch. Here is the BV link with lots of great pictures.
I am overwhelmingly excited to see them again in mid september at the church in Harlem. Yeah, you know, the ornate one, with no windows. On the corner.
<3 The Elephant
FLEET FOXES: LIVE AT UNION HALL
Seattle quintet Fleet Foxes graced New York with their presence at two venues this week: Bowery Ballroom, capacity 498, Union Hall, capacity 100. The decision there was not a tough one. I, being high and mighty, didn’t buy a UH ticket the second they went on sale because it’s Union Hall. Then suddenly, they were all gone. As I just found out today, after the fact, Sub Pop bought themselves 40 of those tickets. Whether it was intentional or not, by selling out the Brooklyn show, they got a huge hype in a very short period of time and Bowery sold out too. I was pissed that I wasn’t going, particularly since I had only myself to blame.
So on Thursday at 10 am when they announced an additional midnight show, Dave was right on his game, reading BV. He tried to get them, and of course they sold out. We got nothing. When I checked Craigslist later, people were offering $160 for two tickets. Sick. I had already realized that this show wasn’t in my future. So when my boss asked me to go fabric sourcing in midtown at 8 or 8:30 the next morning I didn’t sweat it. Until 2 seconds later when Dave texted me that he had gotten tickets. In the land of irresponsibility, I am queen.
Every ounce of doubt dissolved in the first 3 seconds after FF started playing. I had heard that they really rocked when they played Bowery in March, so I was reasonably confidant that they would be good. Good doesn’t begin to do justice to they way that they performed. A lot of their music is dependent upon graceful harmonies and dissonance in their chorus. Whenever this is the case, I always fear that they are just working really hard for their studio takes, but in reality they will not be able to hit those notes live. Every pitch was executed, every rhythm was nailed, and every pause was suspenseful. They played a tight, ridiculously tight show. I was floored. I read a bunch of bitching on BV about the quality of the audiences, and a lot of criticism of the photogs, but that must have been for the first show of the night. At the second show everyone was respectful and the photographers were fine. People just look for a reason to complain about shit. Seriously, they should be so lucky to have been at that show. They have a flexibility on stage that allows them to push and pull throughout each song and they can remain in control. They are a band that is so much better live than in recording that I only hope to see them again, since listening to the record allows a faint nostalgia to linger.
The other thing that I really liked was the band’s random on stage banter. I know it annoys some people, but they were funny and witty. They seemed to think that they were playing pretty well, and so did I. They were clearly enjoying themselves and the crowd. A band that is at ease with themselves and having fun always performs better. Anyway, if you know what’s good for you, you will go see Fleet Foxes in any context possible. Also, buy their album and EP on insound.
<3 The Elephant
CHAIRLIFT: LIVE AT THE KNITTING FACTORY
For a number of reasons, mostly involving bitchy firewalls, I didn’t get a chance to listen to Brooklyn based Chairlift before I went to Knitting Factory on Wednesday. Turns out that it was for the better, because they were pretty awesome live. I was actually there to see LA crazy man Ariel Pink, but you all know how I feel about getting my beauty rest, and I wasn’t about to hang around for hours waiting for his set to start. After Chairlift finished their set, I was satiated musically.
At work on Thursday, I listened to Chairlift on hypem, and was sort of disappointed. They didn’t seem nearly as exciting in recording as they did live. It essentially sounded like Au Revoir Simone occasionally mixed with Stars.
In concert, it was surprisingly ethereal, there was something about the way that they performed, even their slower, spacier sounds made us want to dance. The lead singer was very powerful live, her voice sounded sweet and confidant, and not at all dependent upon her background music. The synthy sound wasn’t overpowering either, it wasn’t just some chick with a casio, there was solid music making happening.
Chairlift’s album releases on Kanine sometime this summer….although I doubt that I will buy it, they are more of a live band anyway. We’ll see if I’m eating my words in a few weeks, but for now, I’m holding off on home listening.
<3 The Elephant
THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART: LIVE AT BOWERY BALLROOM
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are just as sweet as their name implies. While the EP was making its way around the blogosphere in 2007, I fell in love and before entering last nights show at the Bowery Ballroom, I thought to myself, this is going to be the cutest night the Bowery has ever had. Cute people, cute music, and an all around cute vibe.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart play perfectly blended pop music with comparisons abound to the fuzzy and melodic My Bloody Valentine and late 80s/early 90s pop in general, and while I’m not quiet certain you could go so far as to label it twee, it’s not far off. With their bookish lyrics and happy demeanors, they could turn even the most unpleasant of moods around in minutes.
After seemingly making their rounds to every venue in New York, we were fortunate to catch the Pains for their first Bowery gig, and their awe and appreciation was evident. Whether these kids have any notion of how good they are is unclear, but their modesty is sincere. I was left with the impression that each of them had likely been to countless performances at the venue over the years and the magnitude of playing the same stage as the bands they idolized was recognized. Additionally, we were also fortunate to catch what I believe was the first show with Christopher Hochheim as a permanent member at second guitar from Kurt Feldman’s (Pain’s drummer) other project, the incredible The Depreciation Guild.
As expected, the Pains play with the energy of a band in love with their own songs and in love with performing. Frontman Kip Berman could rarely wipe the smile from face as he grinned ear-to-ear for each song while Peggy Wang danced at her keys and flashed a great smile on more than one occasion. Having fun, Peggy suggested that the crowd play “Truth or Dare with the Pains”, but unfortunately it turned out to be the lamest game of truth or dare to have ever been played as a result of a couple pathetically boring questions for their truths. I wanted to ask “Will you play Teenager in Love?” but I didn’t get the chance as they launched into their final song of the set. Although a shorter set than I would have liked (they had a 5am flight apparently), and being slightly disappointed that I didn’t get my song, the show was wonderful as they went hit for hit, from Young Adult Fiction to This Love is F*cking Right!, leaving the crowd sweaty and happy.
Starting the night’s performance was Zaza, which is (surprise, surprise) another side project of the very busy Kurt Feldman. Zaza played a very enjoyable minimalist pyschpop set with almost hauntingly distant vocals and driven by Kurt’s drumming which seemed to have been the focal point of the performance. The minimalist setup near the front of the stage was sans kickdrum but included an electronic drum loop overdubbed which was a little disappointing, but allowed Kurt to display his incredible drumming nevertheless. Set to beautiful backlit shoji blinds with a tree scene, Zaza played a great set and I hope to hear more out of them.
The second and last of the opening bands, Suckers, from IAmSound reminded me of a poppier and somewhat calmer Man Man (which explains the make-up and headgear). Their self-titled debut EP comes off as a poppier version of their live performance. The formation of the band is important to understanding the way they play. The four-piece started as three multi-instrumentalist one-man projects, later adding a drummer to round out their sound. For this reason, you’re likely to catch these guys playing any assortment of instruments at anytime doing whatever it takes to move your butt….and with songs like “It Gets Your Body Moving” and “Easy Chairs”, you’ll have a hard time not moving.
Check out More Pictures from the show on Backseatsandbar.com
Pains of being Pure at Heart Video for “Young Adult Friction”
BELLMER DOLLS: LIVE AT CSV THEATER
With the bad comes the good, I guess. A few weeks ago I went to that church-y place on Delancy and Suffolk. Remember that place? Yeah, I went on that date there that one time. So this time, again I find myself slightly tipsy and far from home late at night. Going to see
this band called the Bellmer Dolls with a good friend of mine and her sister. I love these girls, they are just darlings, and both of them have lovely boyfriends. So I trust them when they take me to a concert that I hadn’t heard of. This is really rather exciting. Apparently the
first band was excellent. Preacher and the Knife is unsigned, but word on the street is that they are really phenomenal live, so I am going to give them a little shout out. Based on myspace and their website, I
sort of doubt that they are my taste, but who knows, maybe I will have a change of Heart. Needless to say, I missed them.
So this brings us to the Bellmer Dolls, who were unspeakably awful. They were a parody of themselves, shaking and grooving to their screechy melody-less crap. Dressed in all black, and breathing heavily
into the microphone, I sort of felt bad for the lead singer. But sort of not, maybe this just isn’t my bag, y’know? So I look over at my very polite, sweet friend Anna, and she is staring intently at them,
sort of in the same way you’d watch a child’s piano recital. So the first song passes, followed by the second, equally shitty “song”. Meanwhile, I am casting furtive glances at my ladies and their men, waiting for someone else to identify this accurately: this is a
graceful exit scenario. Unfortunately this is a seated show, and the seats are in a bit of a balcony, so we can’t really get out subtlety. Meanwhile, my friends seem to think this is perfectly acceptable music. FUUUUUUCK. I can’t escape. My ears are just burning with cruel irony. Suddenly Ashley (Anna’s sister) leans over and breathes into my ear, “oh my god i’m sorry” They are horrible. I breathe a lighter, happier breath. Anna turns and agrees. So we do just that: escape to have another drink. Oh Anna and Ashley, you came through. Thank GOD.
Lesson learned: don’t go to a show w/o listening to the band first.
<3 The Elephant
THE PRESETS: LIVE AT BOWERY BALLROOM
For you hoofers who haven’t heard this Aussie electro-pop new age synth outfit, the Presets are one band you positively need to see live. In fact, Discosalt commands you. The duo, consisting of Julian Hamilton on vocals, keyboards, clicks and beeps and Kim Moyes on drums, packed a very strong party bag of tight dance music into even tighter jeans last Thursday, June 5, 2008, at The Bowery Ballroom.
Julian goaded the crowd on, pushing buttons, slamming keyboards, howling and dancing around the stage like an entrancing epileptic new wave robot from 1983. And the crowd took the bait, dancing, jumping, singing along, crowd surfing and pouring as much ceremonial sweat into the observance as the performance. Highlights included “Steamworks”, “Kicking and screaming”, “A New Sky” and the anthem, “Are you the one”,all of which liberated so much energy, I wanted to quit my day job… and just dance. You will too, and you should.
The Presets on the Interwebs
